Amit Kumar

And I kind of show the data to the students in my class.

I think what's powerful for the students is that they learn that they exhibit the same effects that have been found in published research.

So we've

replicated these results kind of time and time again.

I suspect that it's useful or this research might be more meaningful.

It might potentially have a bigger impact on one's own life if you kind of participate directly, if you experience it yourself rather than just kind of hearing about the results from experiments you didn't participate in.

thanked her for everything that she had done for him.

And at the end of his letter, he wrote the words, I love you.

And he realized that he had never said that to his mom before.

And his mother's response started with four words back, I love you too.

Imagine sort of hearing that from your mom after the first time that you told her that.

That's a particularly powerful example, of course, but it's actually not an unusual reaction.

So we've done this with, you know, lots and lots of participants at this point.

And I've had participants in our studies and in my class kind of write to me telling me that they were ecstatic, that they were blown away.

bubbling over with joy after receiving a letter of appreciation.

That's not the usual type of comment that a researcher gets in the open-ended feedback when they're asking someone to complete a questionnaire.

I'd say that I probably have started expressing gratitude more often in my day-to-day life as a result of conducting this research.

All of this work is just an attempt to get a better understanding of our everyday lives and how they might be improved.

What makes us more likely to express gratitude?

Well, we know that people are more likely to do something if it's top of mind, if we can think about a clear way to get it done.